Locked out of Win 10 account

Steve,

You can enable the normally-disabled Built-in Admin at boot [Option 5] and use that to create a new local, Admin, password-protected user account.
You should then disable the Built-in Admin account again.
Enable or Disable Built-in Elevated Administrator Account - TenForumsTutorials
Add Local Account ... - TenForumsTutorials
Change to Admin account type - TenForumsTutorials

Your new Admin account will be able to get access to all the folders & files of your old account.

Best of luck,
Denis

Stevek84 said:

...Is there a way to unlock my existing user account...

Welcome to Ten Forums.

No, not if you sign in with a Microsoft account. I had the sad duty of trying to do that for my cousin's late husband's PC
where the only account was his MS account.

Use the link Denis gave and create a new local account, making it an administrator, then you can access your old account's files. That's what I had to do for my Cousin.

Just for completion/alternative:
Irrespective of creating an account or not, unless the files are encrypted by one means or another, you can access those files anyway either by
- booting your PC from a live boot disk (Google/search if unfamiliar)
- removing the disk, putting it in an enclosure, and accessing it from another PC.

You'll note there are links in the post above to tenforums tutorials: do have a look at the huge searchable Tutorials section.

This year it is 84 years since Mr.Orwell's terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime.
In the 70s when I first read it I thought it was far too strange and almost ridiculous, at best a description of something that could happen in 300 years. Not so sure about that anymore.

I have established at least two adm. accounts on my PCs....just in case some hopeless geek in Redmond with overly thin, urbane calves and wrinkly behinds that should belong to an 80-year-old gets any more wacky ideas.


By the way....there is maybe a solution here:
Recoving windows 10 admin privileges - Super User

Yes you can establish a login using the tutorials listed above.

Option Five: Enable or Disable Built-in Administrator in Command Prompt at Boot

from

Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account in Windows 10


That is, you get your PC to boot to a command prompt via Advanced Startup options.

E.g. from the Power button on the Lock screen, SHIFT + left click Restart and work thru the prompts.

That's the start of Option 2 in this:
Reset Password of User Account in Windows 10

- where it says

This option should only be used if the local user has forgotten his or her password, and does not have a password reset disk.

--------------------------------

I have files\documents I'm attempting to save\recover

Of course you can always access those provide they are not encryted.

If you can't log in at all.. you could...
a. Create a live boot disk (flash drive) (Google/search e.g. Hiren's, Bob Omb's) using another PC, and boot your PC from that.
Then you can use file explorer to access your files.
b. Remove your disk, put it in a caddy and connect it to another PC as a USB disk.
c. Create a disk image of your internal disk, booting your PC from the bootable disk created from e.g. Macrium Reflect or similar on another PC.

(Ideally you would already have such adisk image- the routine and regular use of disk imaging is ENDLESSLY advised here).

Mount that image file on another PC- and you can explore it as usual.

Stevek84 said:

I dont have any access to windows in order to take the steps suggested.

Steve,

All you need is a Windows 10 installation USB in order to use the procedure given in post #2.

If you do not have one of them then you will need to take your computer to somebody who does.

The procedure does not entail any use of the MSAccount reset / old mobile number / email reset.

Denis